Imported Submarine

Last time I've said that there is a stall in Orchard selling pempek. Now I've been invited to taste pempek from back home. Our friends' cousin brought packs of home-made frozen pempek with complete with the sauce. Comes with variation too, fish balls, kriting (y'know, the one which looks like a ball of tangled noodle), and -of course- the submarine. Just have to fry them and there you have it! We add cucumber and colorful krupuk, but leave out the egg noodle (don't have and too hungry to go out and look for it). Taste wise, it is different from the Orchard one, could be the way they made the pempek itself and also on how crips you fry them. But the main difference is the sauce. The sauce is thinner -just like the pempek that we used to buy when we're at school. And it isn't spicy at all.

Kalap @ Lucky

I have been telling you that it is hard to find malay food which suit with our taste. Then yesterday our buddy called and asked us to join them for dinner in downtown. He said that he had ordered ayam pop for us. Wait. Ayam pop? The ayam pop that we used to eat in Ciumbuleuit? Without any questions, we agreed to go.

We went to Lucky Plaza, in the food court at level 6 there is one stall selling Indonesian food. Apparently this ayam pop is not listed in the menu. Special order and supposedly only available on Sunday. So to get it on Saturday night is extra special; no wonder when we arrived it wasn't ready yet. But no worries, there are other dishes in the menu list. We decided to order couple of dishes to share as 'appetizer'.

Started with batagor. We always like batagor and this one is quite authentic! Imagine the taste of tahu baso dipped in spicy peanut sauce... Hmm... Within seconds the plate was empty. And the ayam pop wasn't ready yet. Second dish: bihun baso malang. Yummy! Then it was time. The ayam pop arrived. It comes with sayur daun singkong, sambal cabe merah padang, and large chunk of rice. Taste: really-really good. Chicken was nice & tender. The chili sauce was a bomb: spicy, a bit sweet, but addictive. Definitely not for peeps with weak-stomach!

And for dessert we managed to get one of Sunday's special menu: kolak pisang -which involved: persistently asking whether the kolak is ready, storming into their kitchen and waiting, refused to leave until the kolak is ours...

Pisang Raja & Rojak

After hearing comments on how delicious this fried bananas for weeks, yesterday evening we finally went there. The fried banana stall is located in Toa Payoh, small hawker center but all tables are full. Definitely a good indication for food quality.
Our fried banana stall is called Lucky Pisang Raja. Besides fried pisang raja, it also sells other fried thingy, such as sweet potato, yam, etc. All looks tempting. But since we definitely will try other food, we only buy 5 bananas and one sweet potato. While waiting for my change, I saw this signage at the counter: buy 12 bananas and we'll give you free box. Box? Not so good proposition, it will be more interesting if it says buy 12 and get 1 free. Then my friend told me that bananas is packed in paper bags, if you buy 12 than it comes in box which makes easier to eat. Huh? It still doesn't make sense to me. Anyway, who am I to complain, especially because the banana is crispy and yummy.

The other must-try food is rojak. Apparently the Toa Payoh famous rojak is there. We notice this by seeing at least one plate of rojak in every table, plus peeps are queueing for take away. And to keep it in order this small stall is using electronic queue-number board! It takes quite a while for our rojak to arrive. Rojak is a bit different with the Indonesian rujak. Rojak comes with crushed peanuts, a bit of petis, and not only fueled with pineapples & bangkoang but also yu tiao (chinese dough sticks aka ca kueh) and ju her (cured cuttlefish).

While waiting for our rojak, we order other dishes, one of them is this lovely minced pork noodles. It comes with mushroom -baked in dark soy sauce- and meat balls. You can pick different type of noodles too, from thin angel-hair-kinda noodles to a thick (probably the rasta version) noodles. Taste wise: good when the soup is hot.

Cola + Kopi Tarik?

In France Coke has launched Coke Blak, cola plus coffee. Here in Singapore, we found Pepsi Kopi Tarik. Similar idea. Bizzare idea. Weird idea. What does it taste? That's why we bought one.
Took a nice pic before opening the bottle (yep, it comes in plastic bottle). It tastes nothing like kopi tarik. In the beginning it tastes a bit similar with Coke Vanilla, but creamier with a bit of coffee taste at the end. Nett-nett: not gonna be our favorite soda drink. Again, cola plus coffee is not-so-wonderful idea. If you want a caffeine boost, it's better to order double espresso.

Submarine from Palembang

Duh! Udah lama nih ga makan pempek. Kangen juga. Di pulau ini sih banyak mpek-mpek trutama kalo udah sore, pada nongkrong2, ngobrol sembari rokokan dan ngebir. Tapi yang bisa dimakan dan enak, nah itu jarang.

Anyway, news of an Indonesian food stall selling pempek Palembang travels across the island. People, who've tried it, gives good comments. So, without any delay... here we come! They also have the kapal selam, with chicken egg stuffed in fish cake. Ha! Definitely that is one that we order!

Now the review: it is nice. The sauce is (at least peeps said that) somewhat Palembang original. Thick and spicy. Pokoknya wenak! A nice treat, but it is quite expensive though...

Prawn & Suckling Pig

Keeping my words, we went out on a date. A dinner date. This time we picked Crystal Jade Hu Cui. Last time we had brunch there, and now is dinner time (they have different menu for brunch and dinner).

Browsing through menus made us drolling. Everything sounds delicious (although some of them are harmful to your wallet! Haha!). Anyway, we focused on chef recommendation list. First dish is crispy suckling pig. We heard lots of good comments on its suckling pig. So it must be worth to try. Then our eyes locked on baked prawns with salted egg yolk. Prawns baked in salted egg yolk? Salted egg yolk? Again... salted egg yolk? Sounds exotic, oriental and daring. Haha... And to fill up our empty stomach, we ordered fried rice.

Since we were sitting close to the kitchen, we saw one whole suckling pig coming out of the kitchen. It's really small piglets, probably same size with the ones we saw in pig farm in Bali. Hiiii... imagine that roasted piglet laying on that white plate once running around with its brothers and sisters... But the taste, undeniably good. The skin is so crispy and fatless. Slurup! Next is the prawns. They were dipped into salted egg yolk then were baked, which gives salty taste on top of the sweetness of prawn meat. Hmm... I bet this dish will not be in the list of doctor Phil healthy diet. Combination on 2 source of high cholesterol: prawns and egg yolk. But again it is delicious. The fried rice comes with shrimp, scallop, and kailan stem. Again delicious and yummy. Haha!

Beefy Mexican

Last week we strolled around Holland V and ended up at Cha Cha Cha (again). This time we decided to try its taco and enchilada. Although it has option for chicken, we believe that taco is best with beef. As well as enchilada (and fajitas too!)... Anyway, while our order is cooked, we're happily nibbling tortilla chips with hot spicy salsa. Sssssssh... wenak rek!
Then the meal is served. Enchilada is great. The beef is tender and juicy. Taco is delicious. Satisfyingly yummy.